Nanoha Magica: First Contact
by Lycoson
Summary: The orders sounded simple; investigate an unexplored world. Instead, Nanoha, Fate and the crew of the Arthra get far more than they ever bargained for. With more questions than answers surrounding them and a mysterious survivor helping them, they all have a difficult task: First Contact with an alien race.
1. Chapter 1

A.N. Jesus, this took a while. I started this a while ago as a oneshot side-project and the whole thing sort of exploded from there. more to come, but it may take a while.

Anyway, imagine the "Time and Location" bits as playing on the bottom of the screen like they do during Nanoha A's. As to exact setting, think of this as starting somewhere between the second and fourth timelines in Madoka, and early in year 0066 by the Mid-Childan calendar.

I hope you enjoy!

* * *

_"We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships ... having used up all the resources from their __home__ planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach."_

—_Stephen Hawking_

* * *

Time-Space Administration Bureau cruiser Arthra

Above Non-Administered world #113

Four hours past start of second shift

Admiral Lindy Harlaown sat alone in the Arthra's observation room. It was four hours after the end of the main shift, and she really should have been resting. Instead, she had drunk several cups of caffeinated tea and set herself up in this room. She could not possibly think of going to bed now; not after finally reaching this world and seeing what was on it. She had the crew on the bridge feeding her the video they were capturing from the surface. To her left a continuous readout of sensor data scrolled, giving her statistics to go with the different views from the planet.

An elaborate drama was playing itself out before her eyes on the screen. High above the city, a strange object revolved slowly. Analysis, she had been told, labeled the object as a sentient magical construct on a massive physical scale. Its top seemed to be nothing more than a series of gears, while the bottom vaguely implied a humanoid figure. Near what she could only call the object's equator several dark shapes orbited like satellites, mimicking the pinwheeling vortex which surrounded the entire scene. This was the eye of a hurricane centered on the construct.

While this disturbance was only moderate in the TSAB classification system, confined to a specific region of one world, its power was undeniable. And in several views spaced around the room, she could see four girls caught in the middle of it. She would catch glimpses of them as they passed through the different fields of view.

When her orders had come in from the TSAB, Admiral Harlaown had not been entirely certain what to make of them. Repeated, mid-size disturbances occurring at regular intervals; it was not much to go on. Their origin, labeled Non-administered world #113, lay beyond the boundaries of the administered worlds in an unexplored region. Now that they were here, however, all they had found so far were more mysteries.

"Lindy-san?"

Admiral Harlown spun around. "Nanoha! What are you doing up at this hour?"

The auburn haired girl was dressed in pajamas. "I couldn't sleep, so I got up for a snack. Are we there already?"

Lindy nodded. "Yes, I'm taking a look at the planet."

Nanoha walked up next to where Lindy stood and looked at the screens. In one, she saw a girl in red. She leapt from atop a lamppost as a black silhouette of a figure advanced toward her. The spear she was carrying split into a series of chain-linked segments, snapping outward at the creature.

"This is what's going on down there?"

"Yes. Whatever that thing in the center there is, it's causing a spatial distortion."

"So it's the source of the dimensional quakes we were looking for?"

"We're not certain. This could be the early stages of the quakes, there's certainly enough energy to lead to one, but this is a localized phenomenon."

A voice came from behind them. "What is?" A girl with long golden twintails stood in the doorway.

"Fate! You're up too?"

"I wanted to see what you all were up to."

Lindy smiled at her. "Here, come take a look."

Fate rubbed the drowsiness from her eyes, then took a closer look. On it, a Raven-haired girl had just dodged a strike from one of the smaller black masses. A grenade appeared in her hand, which she then threw at the pursuing entity. "Is that girl using magic to summon mass-based weapons? What's the point of that? Even if she's storing them in her device, bombardment magic would be more efficient."

"No, she's probably just uninformed. She'd be at least a B-ranked mage if she had proper training."

"What do you mean?"

"The technology of this world is advanced slightly beyond that of Earth, though it's still mass-based. We could not detect any sort of industrial magic facilities. Yet these four girls are undeniably mages, of a sort."

"How can that be?" Fate asked, "If this world uses only mass-based technology?"

"They could be this world's first experiment with magic, which would explain the dimensional tremors, but we just don't know enough yet."

"Shouldn't we do something about it then? After all, it's our job to stop these sorts of disasters, isn't it?

Lindy sighed. "It would be great if it were that simple."

"What do you mean?"

"We were sent here to investigate this world, and reduce the risk of dimensional rifts. But right now we simply don't know enough about the situation. If we go in there to try and help without really knowing what's going on here, we could end up making the situation worse. This is uncharted territory."

Lindy watched as the raven-haired girl just barely managed to dodge a piece of flying debris. "We have to sit here and just watch for now." Her face was calm, but her hand was clenched into a fist.

A look passed between Nanoha and Fate. There was no need even for them to communicate telepathically; they were both in perfect agreement.

"Lindy-san. There was a time when I was in a situation like that down on the planet. Back when I was just my mother's pawn. You ordered Nanoha not to interfere, and let me exhaust myself. But she disobeyed you, taking a gamble to try and save me. If Nanoha hadn't disobeyed orders and interfered, what would have happened to me?" Fate hugged Admiral Lindy. " Mother?"

Lindy's fist relaxed. She patted fate on the head. Both young girls could tell that she was trying to hide a smile. "Now, I'm going to ask you both to go back to your rooms and rest up, but I'm not going to make it an order. I'm going up to the bridge to get a better look at the situation. If you need anything, just call up. If anything really bad happens, I'll get you back up on the bridge."

Non-Administered World #113 surface

Epicenter of the dimensional disturbance

Local Time: 12:15 A.M.

The blonde girl lined up her shot, carefully taking aim. They had been fighting for fifteen minutes and she was already almost exhausted. She could not see the others anymore. Rockets still came at infrequent intervals, so Homura was still fighting at least. She knew that Kyoko had been under that building which had collapsed, but hoped that she had made it out in time. Madoka she was not sure about. That impact from one of the familiars had sent her flying, and she had not appeared since then.

She clutched the cannon tighter, steadying her aim on the witch. The fuse slowly burned its way down. Just as it touched the edge of the cannon, she shouted, "Tiro Finale!" The cannon boomed, sending its missile toward the creature. A few seconds later a burst of dust erupted from the flying creature. When it cleared, however, the creature was still there.

The girl slumped against her cannon. Still not enough. She had used all she had left, and it was still not quite enough to defeat Walpurgis Night. She was completely drained. A sense of peace descended around her; A feeling of inevitability enveloping her like a blanket.

"Ten."

A mechanical voice rang out over the battlefield.

"Nine."

A countdown?

"Eight."

Small points of magenta light appeared all around her, rushing upward toward some point far above.

"Seven."

Not that it really mattered. Even their best efforts were not enough. They had lost.

"Six."

Still, where was that coming from? What did it mean?

"Five."

Homura was still standing, she knew that. Had she started the countdown?

"Four."

That must be it. Homura had a last resort device she was pulling out.

"Three."

That was good.

"Two."

She looked skyward. The magenta lights had collected themselves into one great glowing ball.

"One."

Far above, she heard a second mechanical voice announce "Plasma Smasher!" followed by the first announcing "Starlight Breaker!" A few seconds later Walpurgis Night was engulfed in Yellow and Magenta light. A shockwave radiated outward, pushing aside anything not rooted to the earth. Before she could react it reached her, knocking her off her feet. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was a strange magical girl in white descending from the sky like the angel of judgement. The next moment everything was blackness.

High above, Nanoha and Fate watched the residue of the geared creature disintegrated beneath them. Nanoha panted, trying to catch her breath after expending so much energy. There had been plenty of expended mana around the battlefield to gather. That, added to half a dozen cartridges, was more than she had needed for that blast, but it had been a lot of energy to channel at once.

"Good…Job…Raising Heart," She was finally able to pant. The device blinked in response. Nanoha turned to Fate. _"Let's search for survivors," _she thought at her_, "I saw one of them collapse over on that hill"  
_

Fate nodded. _"Right."_ Both girls descended.

Nanoha reached where the blonde girl had been firing from, and saw her crumpled on the ground surrounded by a pile of spent muskets. Nanoha knelt to make sure that the girl was only unconscious, and was relieved to see shallow breathing.

Fate scoured the area, looking for other survivors. The feed from the observation room had shown four girls. Nanoha had found one, meaning that there might be more survivors. Still, Fate was not certain how strong these girls' barrier jackets were, and doubts lingered in her mind no matter how hard she tried to push them away.

There they were. Two of them, together. It was not too far away from where Nanoha was. Fate touched down lightly next to them. One look told Fate that the girl in pink had fought her last battle; her neck was bent back at an impossible angle. The other one, the Raven-haired girl from the viewscreen, was cradling her gently in her arms. Looked over her shoulder to make sure Nanoha could not see the scene.

Fate placed her hand on the living girl's shoulder. "It's alright. It's over now. You're safe."

The raven-haired girl pushed Fate away. "I…I have to go back again. I have to fix this! It can't end here!"

Fate was at a loss for what to say.

"_Nanoha, Fate, we're pulling you out of there right now!" _Lindy's voice rang through their minds.

"_What's the matter?" _Nanoha asked.

"_There's another spatial distortion building up on this world and it's centered right on your area." _

"_One second."_ Nanoha pulled the blonde girl up onto her back. _"Alright." _

Fate took one last look at the drama laid out before her; the girl in pink lying on the ground, the raven-haired girl cradling her gently, tears flowing freely from her eyes as she reached for the round device strapped to her wrist. In the background, the storm caused by the gear-creature was beginning to clear. Then Fate made a transportation circle materialize around her, and everything around her dissolved.

Time-Space Administration Bureau cruiser Arthra

Currently cruising in higher dimensional space

five hours after start of Second Shift

"Admiral, you really should get some sleep." The young officer manning the pilot's chair gave her a look of concern.

Lindy suppressed a yawn. Certainly it had been a long day, but she was not about to let that show. "I'll be fine. What's our status?"

"We've managed to ride out the worst of the tremors. Good thing we were already traveling away at the time; we were able to ride it out without it breaking through our shields.

Amy motioned for her attention from another terminal. "Hey, Admiral, come look at this."

Amy had brought up an image on her screen. Lindy leaned over to look, seeing a green and blue world. It seemed calm and peaceful, not unlike any other world.

"Okay, I give up. What am I looking at?"

"This is a real-time feed from the world we were just over."

Lindy frowned. "That's impossible. So soon after a dimensional quake, and everything's back to normal?"

"It's not just that, though. The planet isn't where we left it; it's regressed by approximately 44.4 degrees in its orbit. Similar stories on all of the other planets in this system. It's almost as if that world went backward in time to almost one and a half months before the disturbance. "

"Alright, so this world just rewound itself. Why wasn't the Arthra affected?"

"We had already jumped into high-dimensional space by the time it happened. The disturbance only affected the dimension of this world.

"Lindy-san?" Nanoha's voice came over the intercom.

Lindy pressed a button to speak with her. "Go ahead, Nanoha."

"We've taken the girl we brought back down to the infirmary.

"How is she?"

"Doc says she'll wake up soon."

"Good. I'll be down right away."

"It's just…there were four girls down there. We only brought back one. The others…they're probably dead, right?"

"We were in a hurry to get out of here. You were able to save that girl down there, and that's more than anyone could be asked to do."

"But the other three…they were there too. Right in the center of that quake."

"We're not quite certain what happened to them there, so don't give up hope just yet."

Time-Space Administration Bureau cruiser Arthra

Infirmary

Five and a half hours after start of Second Shift

The blonde girl stirred, then opened her eyes. At first, the only thing she could make out was a vague bright blur. She heard voices coming from somewhere above her.

"Good, look like she's coming around now."

She felt bruised all over. It had a horribly familiar feeling; like what had happened before she became a Magical Girl. Had it all just been some horrible dream? Kyuubei, the witches, Madoka and Homura, had they all just been illusions? That must be it. She was back in that car crash, about to die, and her life over the last few months had been nothing but a fantasy.

But, no. That was not right. She could see clearer now, and it was not the sun shining through a broken car window above her, it was diffused artificial light. And she was lying on a bed in some sort of infirmary, not sprawled over the bottom of a wrecked car. A head with chestnut-colored hair and blue eyes was staring down at her. That was right; it was that girl from before.

"It's alright, you're safe now."

"Where am I?" she managed to say.

Another voice replied. The girl tilted her head up slightly to see a woman with mint-green hair. "You're onboard the Time-Space Administration Bureau ship Arthra."

That told her precisely nothing. Now she was even more confused. "Time-Space…what?"

"It's going to take a long time to explain. For now, just know you're safe." This came from a girl with golden hair to her other side.

"What's your name?" the brown-haired girl asked.

"Mami," she replied, "Tomoe Mami. Forgive my rudeness, but who are you people?"


	2. Chapter 2

We interrupt this fanfiction because the author would like to shamelessly plug his own work.

Ladies, Gentleman, various intermediates, androgynes and others,

Hello and welcome to the ultra-special action-packed triple-update extrrrrravaganza! Yes, I have been doing something over the last month and a half, and it culminates today in more than 12,000-words total!

First off there are these new chapters for both of my running fanfiction, "And What Yomi Found There" and "Nanoha Magica: First Contact." So it's good news to all three of you following me!

But wait, that only makes two updates, doesn't it? Well, as a matter of fact, the very reason this update is so late is that I have been in the process of launching a project that I've had in the works for over seven months. Yes folks, I have written a piece of _original fiction_!

Do you like Magical Girls? Do you like dark Magical Girls? Well, this announcement is good news for you. My third update, more than three times as long as anything I have submitted yet, is the first chapter of my take on the Dark Magical Girl Genre. Whether the concept appeals to you or you just like how I write, please go to this entry on fictionpress and read it when you're done here:

s/3046865/1/

This us something I'm genuinely proud of, and I need an excuse for this thing to not just exist in my brain anymore. Knowing that people are reading it is what will do that for me.

We now return you to this fanfiction.

Incidentally, since no one has said it in a review yet, Inb4 Lol Nanoha blasting Walpurgis Night in one shot.

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Time-Space Administration Bureau cruiser Arthra

Chief Medical Officer's Office

One hour after start of first shift

"You wanted to see me, Doc?" Lindy asked as she stepped into the small office to one side of The infirmary. The ship's Chief Medical officer sat behind the desk, hands folded in front of her.

"Yes, Admiral, thank you for coming. Please have a seat."

Lindy took the offered seat in front of the desk. She Yawned. "That really was one long night. Far too much excitement."

"How go things on the rest of the ship now?" Doc Asked.

"We're holding position away from the world until we're certain that all of the aftershocks of the dimensional quake have settled down. We've never observed the phenomenon from this close before. We have no idea what sort of aftereffects there might be."

"That's a sensible decision. I take it we'll be heading back at the first opportunity you think it's safe, though?"

"I'm going to give it another five hours. If there are no more disturbances in that time period, I'll give the go-ahead to return. How about things down here? Is your patient doing well?"

Doc shifted in her seat. "That's what I called you in about. I gave Tomoe-san an examination; standard procedure, you know. It turned up some odd results."

"Odd how?"

"This girl shouldn't be walking around."

"I agree she should rest up, but really Doc, exercise would probably do her some good. She's recovering from mana exhaustion not a car crash."

"No, that's not what I mean. Physically, other than mana exhaustion, she's the picture of health, and ordinarily I'd see no reason to keep her here. I mean she literally should not be walking around. It should be impossible for her."

"I think you've lost me."

Doc brought up a holographic display above the desk, including an internal diagram of Mami's body and a series of graphs and numbers. "All of the different processes of her body are working. Her heart pumps blood, her stomach digests food, her lungs go in and out and perform gas exchange and so on—but there's nothing _driving_ those actions. Her brain and spine are completely inactive."

Lindy frowned. "That's not possible. If that were true, she should be a vegetable. Not able to move around at all. It has to be a problem with your instruments."

"It's not. I already checked that. What's more, I can't find this girl's linker core anywhere either."

"She must have one; we saw her casting magic."

"I'll take your word for it on that count, but biologically this girl should not be able to cast even the most basic of spells. Without a Linker Core, she should not have any ability to control or produce magic at all."

Lindy stared out through the large window into the infirmary, where Mami was sitting propped up against several pillows. Fate and Nanoha were sitting on opposite sides of the bed, talking with her. A tray had been placed across Mami's lap, and all three of them were eating breakfast from it. Mami was giggling at some comment that Nanoha had made; for all appearances she was acting like any normal girl.

"Quite a mystery we've picked up here," Lindy said, "Here we were thinking that this girl would give us an answer, but instead we've ended up with more questions."

"You going to interview her?"

"I was going to have Fate and Nanoha help me with that, or maybe Chrono. They're closer in age to the girl, and I thought she might be more open with them than with just me. We definitely need to debrief her, though. She'll probably be able to give us at least a vague idea of what's been going on here."

The doctor nodded. "We can only hope."

Lindy stepped out into the infirmary. After a moment of thought, she began to walk over to where the three girls were sitting.

Mami smiled as she caught sight of the admiral. "Ah, Lindy-san! Good Morning!"

"Good morning, Mami-chan! Feeling better?"

"Much, thank you!" She gestured to the girls on either side of her. "Nanoha-san and Fate-san have been telling me about you and the Arthra. It sounds like I owe you my life."

Lindy chuckled. "It's Fate and Nanoha that saved you. We just happened to arrive in time to help."

"Well however it happened, I'm eternally grateful."

Lindy smiled. "Will you be able to leave the infirmary later today?"

"The Doctor says she wants me to spend another night here, but I'm free to walk around the ship as long as I don't strain myself and I have an escort."

"Think you would be up to having tea with us this afternoon then?"

"I'd love to!"

"I'll come by to get you then. I'm sure we'll have a great deal to talk about."

Time-Space Administration Bureau cruiser Arthra

Admiral's Lounge

Eight and one half hours after start of first shift

"You could have woken me up at least," Chrono complained. The three of them sat around a tea table in the Admiral's lounge. Despite it being unnecessary while on the ship, Chrono was wearing his barrier jacket. "If you're going to do something reckless like that, you should at least have had as much help as possible."

"I'm sorry," Nanoha said, "But there just wasn't any time."

Chrono huffed. "Well you were lucky that you weren't killed. As it stands, though, we're in a much better position to learn about this world thanks your actions."

"Good afternoon everyone!" The cheerful voice said. The three young mages turned to look in the doorway. Mami and Lindy stood there. Mami had evidently been able to freshen up; her hair, formerly in a state of disarray from the battle, had been returned to the neatly-formed princess curls. Her outfit, some sort of school uniform, had been straitened and smoothed, and Mami herself seemed to have much more energy.

"Ah, Mani-san!" Nanoha said, "Please, come take a seat!"

Lindy gestured to the dark-haired boy. "Chrono, this is Mami Tomoe, the girl we picked up from the planet. Mami-chan, this is Chrono, my son."

Chrono nodded a hello. "Good afternoon, Tomoe-san."

Mami stared at Chrono. "A boy?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Are you also a…what was it that you called it, Fate-san? A mage?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing. It's just that…well, there aren't any boy mages where I come from."

"This must all still be very strange for you," Nanoha said, "It's alright, just take it slowly."

"Thanks, Nanoha-san," Mami replied, "It's still a little hard to believe, all this talk about other worlds, About Mid-Childa and the Time-Space Administration Bureau. Still, whoever you are you certainly chose the right moment to stop in at out little world."

Lindy poured tea for all of them from a small china teapot. "If it's not too much trouble," she said, "We'd very much like to hear all about your world. There's a lot we're still in the dark about many things."

Mami set her tea down. "Yes, of course! I'd be happy to answer anything you want to know, or at least anything that I know myself."

Chrono tapped a control on the table to begin recording. "Well then, let's start with you. You're a type of Mage?"

"We call ourselves 'Puella Magi'—it means 'magical girls.' as I said, there aren't any boys."

"We didn't detect any industrial magic centers on your planet," Chrono said, "How did you become a…Puella Magi was it?"

"That's a bit of a long story, really. I met Kyuubei and signed a contract with him in exchange for a wish, just like every other Puella Magi."

"And what is it that the Puella Magi do?"

"Oh, that's easy; Puella Magi hunt Witches."

"Witches? Is that how you refer to the entity you were fighting when we found you?"

Mami nodded. "Most witches aren't nearly that powerful. That was Walpurgis Night. A competent Puella Magi shouldn't have too much trouble handling weaker witches and their familiars. The stronger ones, though…"

"And what are they exactly? Some sort of magical construct?"

Mami shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I'm sorry, I don't know much about technical stuff like that. What I do know is that they're born from curses the way that Puella Magi are born from wishes. They cause fear and depression wherever they go, growing and multiplying over the world."

Nanoha watched Mami. She knew something more about the situation, clearly, but whatever it was she was keeping to herself. She had half a mind to say something, but in the end decided it would be better not to. If it were something Mami wanted them to know, she would have said it.

Chrono continued with another question. "And so in order to fight these 'Witches,' ordinary girls with magical talent sign contracts with the group that this Kyuubei person represents?"

Mami laughed. "Oh, Kyuubei-san isn't a person. He's a…a…" Mami frowned, "You know, come to think of it, I really don't know what he really is. I never really thought to ask. Some sort of magical creature, I guess. Anyway, he's this white and pink kitty thing with red eyes, and these long tufts growing out of his ears."

"Sounds kind of funny-looking," Nanoha remarked.

Mami giggled. "I guess so."

Chrono cleared his throat. "we've been watching your world over the last few hours, and it's done something remarkable. It seems that the entire dimension it exists in has regressed in time, pretty much rewound itself, by fourty-five days. Can you explain it?"

Mami blinked. "Rewound itself? But I don't understand. How could—" Then, all of a sudden a broad grin of understanding crossed her face. "Of course! Homura-chan!"

"I beg your pardon?" Chrono was taken aback.

Mami, however, was not listening to a word. She was busy muttering to herself. "It must have been that strike from the familiar—yes, that's it. Not even a Puella Magi could recover from something like that. Of course Homura-chan survived; she's been through this too many times already to die. Poor Madoka-chan, though…If she'd only lived long enough to see Fate-san and Nanoha-San arrive. Still, Homura's going to put it right, so that'll be good."

"I'm sorry, Tomoe-San, you're not making any sense."

"Homura-chan—you must have seen her down there when you came to pick me up." She turned to Nanoha and Fate. "Black hair, violet eyes, round shield-thing on her wrist?"

Fate remembered the image of the girl in pink being cradled. She shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, I remember her."

"Well, a Puella Magi's powers always have something to do with their wish—The wish that they get in exchange for their contract I mean—even if it's just something in passing. Homura-chan's powers all have to do with time; stopping time, going back in time, that sort of thing."

"Going back in time. You mean like what we've been observing on your world right now?"

"I guess so. You see, Homura-chan made her wish that she could go back and save her friend, Madoka-chan. Apparently something went wrong the first time around, and she's been going through these time loops trying to save Madoka-chan from dying." Mami paused. "You know, come to think about it, if anyone knows what Kyuubei-san really is, or all about the Witches, it's probably Homura-chan."

"Probably? You don't know for certain?"

"Well, Homura-chan was very tight-lipped about anything she knew from the previous time loops."

"I see." Chrono finished his tea. "Thank you for your cooperation, Tomoe-san.

"Anything I can do," Mami replied.

"We're on our way back to your planet," Lindy said, "We need to make a full investigation."

"Lindy-san, I hate to ask it, but I do have one request."

"What is it?"

Mami held up her hand, showing them a ring. As she turned her hand palm-up the ring transformed into a small gem, shaped something like an egg. It was a light amber-color, and would have been quite beautiful were it not for the dark stain and cracks running through it.

"I used up a lot of magic fighting Walpurgis Night before you all showed up. I need to purify my Soul Gem here before I try doing any more magic. To do that I need a Witch's Grief Seed."

"We'll do whatever we can to help."

"Please, let me go back down to my world when you send people there. You'll need someone to help you find your way around anyway, and I can do that."

Lindy smiled. "As a matter of fact, I was hoping you'd be willing to be our guide anyway. I want Nanoha, Fate and Chrono to go down with you to observe the situation from ground level. I don't see why we can't help you find this 'Grief Seed' of yours at the same time."

"Thank you, Lindy-san! It means more than I can tell you."

Lindy simply smiled and sipped her tea.

Non-Administered Planet #113

Several miles from former epicenter of Dimensional Disturbance

Local Time: 4:30 P.M

Madoka stared at the strange landscape around her. This had not been what she had expected to find when she had followed that call for help in her mind. One moment she and her friend had been in an abandoned building, the next they had found themselves in this strange place. In some ways it was like standing in a joetrope; strings of images spun by in succession, while other objects flickered like projected images. Everything around them had an unreal quality.

She turned to look over at Sayaka. The blue-haired girl seemed just as confused as Madoka herself was. Even the most basic questions of where they were and what was happening remained unanswered; the problem of how to escape not even thought of.

Madoka could not explain why, but she sensed danger. Something made her heart beat faster and her ears strain to hear sounds she half thought that she imagined. Whatever it was, it was very nearby and posed a very real threat. There it was; almost straight ahead of them. Two moustached cottonballs detatched themselves from the background of whirling, flickering images and advanced on them. They had nowhere to run and no way to defend themselves.

Suddenly two gunshots rang out from behind them. Small golden flashes of light struck the creatures, causing them to explode like popped balloons. Madoka and Sayaka stared dumbfounded at one another.

A voice came from behind them. "Looks like you girls are in a spot of trouble."


	3. Chapter 3

Yes, I made a reference here to the difference between the TV and Blu-ray versions. See if you can spot it.

Incidentally, I invite everyone who is above age in your country of residence to take a shot every time I reference yet another magical girl series from here on out.

_"If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the American Indians."_

—_Stephen Hawking_

Time-Space Administration Bureau cruiser Arthra

Currently in high orbit around Non-Administered Planet #113

Beginning of first Shift

"Seeds, seeds, seeds," Lindy muttered, "Why is it always _Seeds_? Jewel Seeds, Greif Seeds, Seeds of Disaster, Seeds of Chaos, is there some sort of law that says magical superweapons need to have 'seeds' in their name?" She drained the last dregs from her tea cup and set it down.

Lindy sat in the captain's chair, watching the images on the screens around her cycle. They had feeds from a number of locations around the world, focusing on any magical signatures they could find, as well as more general images of governments, population centers, scientific research stations, and more than a dozen other aspects of this world's society.

"The culture of this world is pretty interesting," Amy said, "A little like continental Europe on Earth, actually, with a number of aspects of Japan. Slightly more advanced, of course, but not by more than fifty years."

Lindy looked over at Amy. "What? Oh, yes. Some interesting parallels there. We very well could be seeing Earth's near future here, or perhaps a precursor to Mid-Childa."

"It would be an interesting cultural study," Amy sighed. "A world as it develops and truly discovers magic." Her face fell. "Too bad that this world is already experiencing magical disasters."

"And unfortunately we're not allowed to take direct action," Lindy added, "This world isn't under a protectorate clause the way Earth is now, so all we have permission to do is sit here and watch."

"Do you think that these 'witches' of Mami's are the result of a Lost Logia then?"

"Even if this isn't the result of a Lost Logia's power but instead just this world's experiments in magic, it still has the potential to become very dangerous." She lifted her tea cup to her lips again, finding it empty. "What happened to my tea?"

"You drank it all, Lindy-san," Amy replied.

Lindy blinked. "Oh." She set the cup down.

_It's been a while since I've seen Lindy-san this agitated, _Amy thought, _Not counting the Book of Darkness incident, it's been years_.

Lindy sighed. "Just sitting back here doing nothing, it's like the Clow Card incident on earth all over again. God, what a fiasco _that_ was."

Amy nodded in understanding. Yes, that had been just one big blunder. Dozens of powerful magical artifacts scattered across japan, and the Arthra's crew forced by their orders to simply sit by and do nothing. It was only after Lindy had pushed to give Earth a protectorate clause—a limited form of control which permitted TSAB intervention during Lost Logia crises on worlds that could not protect themselves—that they had been able to be of any use, and by then there was little they could have done. If it had not been for that one girl—Sayaka, or Sakura, or something like that—there was no telling how much damage they would have caused.

"We didn't have Nanoha and Fate back then," Amy pointed out, "They're both technically civilians, And Nanoha's not even a resident of the administered worlds yet. TSAB laws don't have the same 'word of god' weight they do with us. Plenty of deniability."

"Don't call it that," Lindy said, "That just makes it _sound _like we're doing something illegal."

"It's _not_ illegal, Admiral. Nanoha and Fate wanted to help, and we really couldn't stop them."

"True." Lindy managed a smile at the thought of her adopted daughter and the girl who was that daughter's best friend. "They're good kids."

"They may not have a ton of experience, but their hearts are in the right place," Amy said, "If anyone can find a solution, it'll be them."

"Where are they now?"

Amy tapped several controls, bringing up an aerial view of the city where they had found Mami. "They teleported down a little while ago. Chrono agreed to stay here on alert in case he's needed. Mami said something about wanting to pick up a few things out of her apartment. Makes sense if she's going to be staying with us for any length of time. I'm glad we were able to convince her to stay on the Arthra with us rather than on the planet."

Lindy nodded. "I think we're all in agreement that if she's helping us that she needs to stay one of us. That was the agreement we made with Nanoha and Yuuno during the Jewel Seeds affair. " Lindy picked up her teacup again, then frowned into its empty depths. "Let's all hope that we can get this solved quickly."

"No arguments here, Admiral."

Non-Administered World #113

Planet's Surface, Mitakihara town

Local Time: 8:00 A.M.

Nanoha sipped her cup of tea contentedly as she looked around the beautiful room she sat in.

"This is a wonderful apartment you have," Nanoha said, "It's full of so many beautiful things. Mami's apartment was a two-bedroom one-bath flat. The furnishings were rather pretty in Nanoha's opinion; in some ways it reminded her of her family's café, Midoriya, though with a subtly alien flare in its style. The various paintings, vases and statues which lined the walls and shelves shared the same bizarre aesthetic; tasteful, yet belonging to another world from what she was used to.

"Thanks, Nanoha-chan," Mami replied distractedly. She was looking around the room, the slightest hint of a frown creasing her mouth.

"Something wrong, Mami-chan?" Nanoha asked.

Mami's gaze snapped back to Nanoha. "No, no, everything is fine. It's just funny, though. I could have sworn that I sold off most of these things for rent money," she gestured to the paintings and vases. She shrugged. "Oh well, I'm probably thinking of some other paintings, or getting the dates wrong. Maybe we came back to before I sold them off." Her eyes swept around the room, taking in every detail of the familiar space. "I'm still having a hard time believing that it's really a month and a half ago. There were so many changes that happened in that time, and all of it's gone just like that. It's almost like we went through it all for nothing."

"It must have been really hard on you," Nanoha said, "with all your friends and family in danger."

"Things should turn out better on this time loop. After all, we have a space ship full of mages on our side now."

Fate smiled. "The Arthra may not be the newest ship in the TSAB fleet, but it has some of the best people on it. I wouldn't trade them out for anything."

"Even so, It still amazes me you were able to take down Walpurgis Night so easily. The four of us threw everything we had at it, and we barely did anything."

"Well, honestly we were surprised ourselves. We expected it to have some sort of regeneration power after that first hit. But it just sort of fell apart after Fate and I blasted it."

Mami choked on the tea she had just begun to sip. She coughed. "Wait, what?! You're telling me that you two took it down _by yourselves_?"

Nanoha blinked. "Well, yes. We told you that, didn't we?"

"When you said you used 'bombardment magic' I thought that you meant you fired some sort of magic beam cannon thing from the Arthra in space."

"The Arthra only has one ship-mounted weapon," Fate explained, "The Arc-En-Ciel. And that's only used in extreme Lost Logia-related emergencies. It's so powerful that firing it at that creature would have wiped out this entire town as well."

Mami gulped. Was it possible that these people were so much more powerful than any of them? Mami forced out a little laugh. "Compared to you, it's like we're all kids with pop guns."

"I wouldn't say that the TSAB mages are necessarily more _powerful_ than your kind," Fate mused, "It's just that our tech is more advanced and our magic more efficient." Mami looked confused, so Fate explained. "Think of it like the navy on this world discovering an island where people still fight with bows and arrows. Person for person, we're not necessarily better, just more advanced. Most of our spells blast the target with energy, almost like a mana laser. Nanoha's Starlight Breaker spell is especially efficient because it collects wasted mana from previous spells and uses it to bombard the enemy. Intelligent Devices like Nanoha's Raising Heart and my Bardiche speed up the casting process and make larger spells like that more practical in combat. But if we gave twenty of your Puella Magi the same Intelligent Divices that we have and the understanding how to use them then they would be indistinguishable from twenty Mid-Childan mages."

"Even if you say that, even four of us were nothing against Walpurgis Night."

"You did a lot more than you think you did, Mami-chan," Nanoha consoled her, "You left a lot of mana around where you were fighting, that's why my Starlight Breaker was so powerful."

"I wonder if I could learn to use magic like the two of you do," Mami mused, "If I could learn to do something like that Starlight Breaker spell, no witch would stand a chance."

"It probably wouldn't be too difficult for you to learn the basics of the Mid-Childan system, Mami-chan," Fate commented, "You already seem to be fairly used to casting magic."

"I don't know how good a teacher I'd be," Nanoha added, "but I'll try to teach you what I know, if you want."

"Really?" Mami smiled. "Thanks, Nanoha-chan! Please let me be your student!"

Nanoha smiled. "Great! We can start as soon as you're ready and…"

Nanoha trailed off. A cold shiver had run up her spine, just as it had a year ago each time one of the Jewel Seeds activated.

She looked over at her best friend. "Fate…"

Fate nodded. "You feel it too then?"

Nanoha nodded. "It's really close; I can feel it nearby."

Mami rubbed the ring of her soul gem nervously. "There should be a barrier somewhere nearby. Witches always have a barrier to protect themselves. We have to find it."

Fate set down her tea, then stood. "Let's go."

Non-Administered World #113

An alleyway near Mami's apartment

Local Time: 8:30 A.M.

"Here," Mami said, holding her hand out to what appeared to be empty air. "Just past here is the gate into the barrier."

Fate looked skeptically down "Are you sure?"

"The Barrier normally isn't visible from the outside. But this is where the energy is concentrated. And watch this." Mami tapped the spot, and an enormous glowing shape appeared for a second. "That's a Witch's mark. That's proof enough that something abnormal is in here."

Nanoha nodded "Alright, Raising Heart, please!"

The red gem which hung around Nanoha's neck blinked, then spoke. "Standby Ready. Set up."

Raising Heart glowed, then expanded into a staff unlike any Mami had ever seen. It looked more like something from a science fiction film, she thought, than a magical implement. Attatched to the side very near the head was what looked to her like a pistol clip, though there was nothing suggesting a gun barrel in the red and gold staff top. The glow then enveloped Nanoha's body, slightly changing shape. In a matter of two seconds, Nanoha was left standing in the white and blue dress. Beside her, Fate was undergoing a similar transformation. Fate's implement, what Mami could only assume was "Bardiche" looked much more like a weapon than Nanoha's staff, though it had the same angular, science-fiction stylization. Her outfit certainly provided more mobility than Nanoha's dress, but sacrificed a great deal of modesty.

Mami fingered her soul gem once again. She knew she did not have enough magic left to fight. In some ways she felt inadequate compared to her two companions. It was strange, she thought; these two were so much younger than her: still in elementary school. Yet they radiated a sense of confidence that she herself rarely if ever felt. Nanoha, it was true, looked slightly nervous, but Fate seemed calm to an almost impossible degree. It was as they were seasoned veterans to this style of fighting.

Mami cleared her throat. "On three. One, two, three!"

The girls felt the transition of entering the barrier before they saw any difference. The air around them had a different quality, a prickling charge that told of a strongly magical presence. Next was the difference in sound. The background noise of the outside world was gone, replaced by an eerie, somewhat unsettling soundscape. The sound of their feet reverberated in such an unexpected manner that so unnerved Nanoha that she began flying a few inches off the ground rather than walk. The scent of the air was floral, yet stuffy: as if they were in a greenhouse that had not been opened for a long time.

Her voice echoed loudly as she asked Mami, "What is this place?"

"It's a sort of maze that the Witch uses to protect itself. This whole area exists in a little pocket dimension. Normal humans that wander in here get trapped and end up becoming victims of the witch."

"So the longer it's here, the greater chance it'll hurt someone?"

"That's why Puella Magi are here. We destroy Witches and their barriers before they can hurt others. Ah, here we are, the middle."

The three of them rounded a corner. From here view over Fate and Mami's heads, Nanoha could see… Nanoha blinked, then rubbed her eyes. The bizzare, slightly choppy movement of the creature did not change. With the strange, distorted space of the barrier around her, it was difficult to say exactly what the creature's form actually was.

Mami pointed at the creature. "You have to kill it to make the barrier dissolve."

Nanoha nodded. At a mental request from her, Raising Heart reconfigured itself, setting itself up for combat magic. Pointing it toward the creature, a set of four glowing sphered appeared in front of Nanoha. As the four spheres streaked away from her, Raising Heart announced, "Axel Shooter."

The creature dodged three of the balls of energy one after another. It was not so lucky on the fourth, which connected solidly with its bulk. Turning toward its attacker, it flew at her in a rage. Calmly yet quickly, Nanoha raised her hand in front of her. In the next instant, the creature struck a glowing magenta circle which had expanded from her palm. A shower of magenta sparks erupted from the point of contact and after a few seconds the creature was thrown backward.

As if on cue, Fate rushed forward, Bardiche now in the form of a glowing energy-scythe. She slashed at the point where Nanoha's energy sphere had struck. The creature managed to dodge her slash, but found itself fleeing into the path of another volley of Nanoha's energy attacks.

Mami found herself awed by the coordination of the two. This did not look to her like two fighters using skills they learned as solo fighters for the sake of accomplishing a goal. That had been how they had tried to defeat Walpurgis knight. Nanoha and Fate were something entirely different. They worked as a pair, almost as a single mind. It was clear that they had experience fighting as part of a team; something which Mami was confident that not many Puella Magi had. Certainly she had been part of a team herself, but that had been brief, and they had not had much experience fighting as a group before Walpurgis Night came. What was more, Most of its members—Herself, Kyoko, and arguably Homura—had developed their skills fighting as solo vigilantes, and suddenly fighting with allies had been an entirely different experience.

The creature dodged another magenta blast from Raising Heart. Seeing Mami for the first time, it barreled toward her. "Look out!" Fate called to her. Bardiche's calm voice announced, "Hacken Slash"

Mami just managed to dive out of the path of the creature. A second later, a glowing crescent of light arced over her head to strike the thing.

Nanoha called over to her, "Are you alright?"

"I'm alright," Mami replied, "That was close though."

_This isn't going to be easy if we keep having to defend Mami,_ Fate thought at Nanoha,_ the longer we fight, the greater chance that she'll be hurt accidentally. We need to finish this soon._

Nanoha nodded. _I have an idea that might work._ She briefly explained. Fate nodded that she understood.

Fate began a series of calculated attacks. Each strike left precisely one direction open for the enemy to flee, driving it away toward one side of the open area. Just a little more. If they could push it just a lttle farther, there would be a clean shot.

The creature dodged out of the way of Fate's strike into open air. Fate dove to the ground and sent a mental message to her best friend.

_Nanoha, now!_

"Divine Buster!" Nanoha shouted. A blast of magenta light erupted from Raising Heart's end, engulfing the creature. Mami covered her ears and winced as a sound like shattering glass rang out through the space. The magenta blast continued, striking the wall, sending a shockwave outward and throwing up a cloud of dust which obscured everything.

As the dust cleared, the altered space of the barrier dissolved. Blinding sun cut through from above, revealing the alleyway that they had left when they entered the barrier.

Fate sighed. "It's over. We won."

Mami looked at the spot where the creature had just been killed. She searched, but found nothing. Her hand clenched into a fist. "It was just a familiar. No Greif Seed.

"We'll have other chances, Mami-chan," Nanoha said, offering Mami a hand up, "Don't you worry. We'll get a grief seed for you before too long. Don't worry."

Non-Administered World #113

Planet's Surface, Mitakihara town, Municipal Park

Local Time: 4:00 P.M.

Nanoha sat on the park bench, looking up at the trees and yet not looking at them. Today had given her even more to think about. She was beginning to understand what Admiral Lindy had said about this being a strange world. Ever since they had defeated the familiar, Mami had been withdrawn and quiet. These mages—these Puella Magi—their desire to obtain Greif Seeds went far beyond wanting to stop Witches from causing despair. It was like they were all the same as Fate was before they had become friends. Finding Greif Seeds was an obsession to them. Nanoha was not sure what that implied; she was too young. But she was certain that she did not like it.

"Hello there," Said a voice beside her. Nanoha jumped, and turned to see a girl with pink hair sitting on the bench next to her. It was difficult to place her exact age. Older than Nanoha herself, that much was obvious, but not quite Mami's age. And she was wearing the same Uniform as Mami did in her civilian clothes.

"Oh! Hello there!" she replied, "Nice day!"

"It really is. The birds are out."

Silence.

"Do you come here often?"

"Oh, every now and then. What about you?"

"No. it's the first time I've been here."

"Are you new to the area? I've never seen you around the park before. Did you just move in?"

"I'm…sort of visiting," Nanoha replied. Something told her that saying anything about the Arthra or other worlds would be frowned upon by both the TSAB and Lindy. "I guess you could say I'm like a tourist. I'm with my best friend's family. We're visiting here together."

"Oh, how lovely! I didn't know Mitakihara got many tourists."

"Yeah…well…how about you? What brings you here today?"

"As a matter of fact, I'm waiting here for some friends of mine. We're all going over to one of their houses to have tea."

"That sounds fun! I have a friend back home that has a tea party whenever we come over. They have this clumsy maid, so something funny always happens."

The pink-haired girl giggled.

"Nanoha!" Nanoha turned to see fate waving to her.

Nanoha waved back as fate approached. "Hi Fate! What's happening?"

"Mother wants everyone back together. Chrono says he's almost done with his research and they have something important to tell us."

"Aww, we have to go already? But I just met someone!"

The pink-haired girl poked her head around Nanoha's skirt and smiled. "Nice to meet you—Fate-san was it?"

Fate's eyes widened. Once again, the image of the dead girl in pink flashed through her mind. She had seen the girl's face well enough to recognize its living counterpart in the girl that now stood before her. Despite the rational part of Fate's mind telling her that this was the past, that the events leading to this girl's death had yet to happen. Still, she shivered. It was all too much like it had been seeing Alicia's body for the first time. She mechanically returned the pink-haired girl's greeting.

"Something wrong, Fate?" Nanoha asked.

"It's…nothing," Fate lied, "Mother says she wants to see all of us."

"Coming," Nanoha replied. She took a few steps after Fate, then turned back to the pink-haired girl. "My name's Nanoha; Takamachi Nanoha. What's yours?"

The girl smiled. "Madoka. Kaname Madoka. It was very nice to meet you, Takamachi-san!"

Non-Administered World #113

Planet's Surface, Mitakihara town, Mami's Apartment

Local Time: 4:20 P.M.

Mami pushed open the door of the apartment, letting Madoka and Sayaka in behind her. Dropping her bag next to the triangular table, walked to the kitchen area before turning to face them.

"Please, make yourselves comfortable," Mami told them, "I'll make some tea."

Mami placed the kettle on the stove then chose a tea box from the collection on the counter as the other girls settled themselves at the table. She wished that she had not forgotten to wash her normal tea set. She would have to use the old china, which was really—

Mami frowned. All of the dishes were washed and back neatly in the cabinet. She _knew_ she had left those dishes in the sink to wash them up later. What the hell?


	4. Chapter 4

Time-Space Administration Bureau cruiser Arthra

Currently in high orbit around Non-Administered Planet #113

Six hours after Beginning of first Shift

All of the Arthra's officers had gathered in the conference room by the time Nanoha, Fate and Mami arrived. Fate could sense the confusion of the other officers as she sat down. Full meetings such as this, not just the section heads but all of the Arthra's officers, were incredibly rare and could mean only one thing: trouble. Fate herself was not entirely certain of what Lindy had in mind bringing the others in. She, Nanoha and Chrono were the only ones in a position to help.

Finally, Admiral Lindy stood and cleared her throat. "Everyone, before we begin, understand that this mission is strictly off the record. No official reports or records are to be made, and all research data is to be kept in personal files only and not on the Arthra's main system. Consider this mission to be a black operation, and requiring all of the precautions that it implies." There were nods around the conference room. It made sense, and some of them had been expecting it.

Chrono stood next. "I've been searching the planet and studying its culture, trying to find secret to the origin of the Puella Magi." Chrono tapped several keys built into the table and brought up a series of holographic views from different parts of the planet. "Here's what I've been able to discover so far. The general characteristics of this planet is that of a world akin to Earth; firmly grounded in Mass-based technology, shifting away from its exhausted supply of fossil fuels toward other mass-based energy resources. Political power is concentrated in a handful of governing bodies that hold dominion over less powerful states through economic empires. There is no evidence of experimental, secret, or widespread-industrial schools of magic, nor is there any evidence for Lost Logia or equivalent relics. Magical aptitude rates are very low: close to those found on Earth but with fewer of the extreme outliers like Nanoha and Hayate."

"It's almost as if the Puella Magi's powers come from nowhere," Ami mused.

"It certainly seems that way at first glance," Chrono sighed, "There's no possible way that a world without a developed magic system or access to some sort of Lost Logia could possibly produce mage devices on an industrial scale like this."

"Mage's powers don't always come from the world they're born on," Nanoha pointed out, "I didn't really know about magic until Yuuno arrived with Raising Heart, but I'm here now."

"Earth is a special case for a number of reasons," Chrono replied, "The TSAB has endless reports of accidental contact between Earth and a wide variety of magic-using cultures. Rayerth, Juraihelm, the remains of the Moon Kingdom, just to name a few. The problem is that it's located too near a heavily inhabited sector, so cross-cultural contamination happens much more frequently than we would like."

"Even Still," Fate mused, "It's been known to happen before on other worlds—The Cures for example. Tomoe-san told us that she received her power from a being named 'Kyuubei.' Maybe this Kyuubei creature is something like the residents of the Palmier kingdom or the Garden of Rainbows: a race from a separate world that possesses a mature magic system but who employ humans as mages due to their stronger and more reliable mana outputs."

"It would be a sound theory if we could actually locate his kind," Chrono replied, "I haven't been able to find any evidence of these so-called 'Messengers of Magic' yet."

"I'm not lying," Mami said, "They _are_ there. Somewhere." She though for a moment. "Kyuubei has this strange power that only Puella Magi or potential Puella Magi can see him."

Chrono frowned. "Some sort of magic-based cloaking? It's certainly _possible_, I suppose. I haven't yet done a full spectral analysis of this world's mana output yet, but the only strong signatures in the standard frequency range for living creatures were witch-barriers and the Puella Magi themselves. If Kyuubei and his people exist, they're certainly hiding themselves well."

"Couldn't we learn more about them if we find out more about the witches?" Nanoha suggested.

All eyes turned toward Nanoha.

"What are you suggesting?" Chrono asked.

Nanoha fidgeted. "Well, it's just an idea I had. We may not know how the Puella Magi are created, but we do know the reason they are is that someone needs to fight the witches. Couldn't we figure out a lot by discovering what the witches are first?"

"I need to get a grief seed sometime soon," Mami added, "I'm not sure how much more magic I'll be able to cast without it."

"The two goals are compatible," Chrono replied.

"We'll need a way to track the signatures of the Witches," Fate said, "and a way to tell them apart from familiars.

"That will take a while," Chrono mused, "Right now we don't know enough about either to tell."

Admiral Lindy raised her hand for silence. Chrono returned to his seat.

"Our current objective is to locate and capture a witch's Greif Seed without alerting the locals to our presence. If we can do that, then we will not only be able to fulfill our own needs, but also aid our collaborator Tomoe-san. This is a non-administered world that has yet to discover the existence of other worlds or widespread use of magic, so our non-interference policies are to be followed even more conservatively than we would on Earth. To that end, only those field agents that can feasibly pass as Puella Magi will be on active hunt. This means that the actual capture of the Greif Seed will be left to Fate, Nanoha-chan and Tomoe-San. All other field agents are to refrain from using magic except when in mortal danger." Lindy paused for a moment as she surveyed the faces around the room. "Any questions?"

No one spoke. None of the officers even blinked.

"Excellent!" Lindy said, "We all know what we need to do now. Let's go out and get this done."

As the others filed out, Amy moved to sit directly in front of Lindy. Admiral Lindy sat waiting expectantly, until the door had slid shut behind the last of her staff.

Amy cleared her throat. "Captain, I analyzed our scan of Mami's Soul Gem like you asked me to. I have my report, if you're ready for it."

Lindy shifted to a more relaxed position in her chair and folded her hands. "Fire away."

"I think you'll find this very interesting," Amy said. She tapped several controls on the table and pulled up a diagram of Mami's soul gem. "This thing is more than just a device. Tomoe-san's linker core has been physically removed from her body and implanted into it, here near the center of the contained jewel."

A column of numbers, letters and mathematical symbols scrolled down one side of the page, with occasional strings of legible text commented in. These comments, no doubt added by Amy, gave brief explanations of the jumble. Lindy recognized the characteristic style of a device's programming, though the equations were vastly different from anything she had ever seen.

"What's more, her consciousness is being run on an emulation program within the device itself. Her body is essentially under remote control."

"That would explain Doc's strange readings. It seemed impossible that a girl without a linker core or brain activity could even be alive, let alone casting magic."

"It does," Amy replied, "It's an incredible feat of magic, especially for a society like this."

"I guess that makes a reasonable amount of sense too. It'd speed up casting time an enormous amount to have the casting device directly connected to the consciousness directing it. Seems to explain everything."

Amy was frowning. "I guess so."

She looked Amy in the eyes. "That _does_ explain everything, right?"

"There's something…odd about it, actually. We can't be absolutely certain, of course, but we think there's a reciprocal programming function—a sort of feedback effect—that's causing the entire system to undergo a sort of metamorphosis."

Lindy felt a chill she could not explain run up her spine. "Metamorphosis into _what_, exactly?"

Amy fidgeted. "It's…it's hard to tell. This device runs on a magic system very different from Mid-Childan or Ancient Belkan devices, so we're having a difficult enough time figuring out how it works right now. Without knowing more about these devices, I can't give you a good guess as to the end product."

"Keep on this, Amy. I want to know the instant you discover something." Lindy studied the diagram of the soul gem. "There's something strange going on down on this world and I don't like it."

Non-Administered World #113

Planet's Surface, Mitakihara City

Local Time: 11:30 PM

Tomoe Mami walked cautiously through the alleyway. All of her senses were alert to the world around her, ever watchful for both natural and magical threats. Madoka and Sayaka had gone home for the evening an hour ago, but Mami had decided to stay on the hunt for a few more hours. So far, however, there was nothing.

Mami caught the gleam of metal in the shadows and sensed the presence of another person. She had a musket in her hand and trained on the person in less than a heartbeat. "Show yourself," she called to the person.

From out of the shadows stepped the last person Mami wanted to see. Long red coat, red hair and eyes, and a broad-headed spear in one hand. Kyoko.

"Easy, Mami, I'm just here to talk."

Mami leveled her rifle at the other Puella Magi. "Alright then, start talking."

"Lower your weapon first."

"Only if you lower yours."

"I'd like to," Kyoko jerked her head toward the roof of one of the buildings, "Except that she's pointing a rocket launcher at us."

Mami risked a glance up in the direction Kyoko had gestured. Standing there, silhouetted against the moon, was the slim figure of Homura, holding a rocket launcher.

"What are you doing," Kyoko called up to her, "Spying on us? Trying to wipe us both out at once so you can get all the grief seeds yourself? What?"

"I think we've all gotten off on the wrong foot here," Mami said, "Why don't you come down here, Homura-san, and we all put down our weapons on the count of three."

Kyoko nodded. "One."

"Two." Mami replied.

"Three." Homura finished for both of them. Kyoko lowered her spear to the ground. Mami dropped the musket she was holding, where it dissolved into glowing ribbons and disappeared. Homura pressed her rocket launcher against the shield on her wrist, causing it to disappear, then leapt lightly down into the alleyway between the two of them.

Mami turned back to Kyoko. "Alright, so you came here to talk. What was it you wanted to say."

"One of you stole my kill," Kyoko said.

Mami blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I was stalking a familiar that was just on the verge of becoming a witch. But the barrier shattered before I even have a chance to _get_ to it. And I really don't like it when other people take kills that should be mine."

"It wasn't me," Mami replied, "All I've run into in the last few day is two familiars, and weak ones at that" She turned to Homura. "What about you?"

"No." she said simply. Mami studied Homura's impassive face. This girl, this strange Puella Magi, she had shown up out of nowhere, offering them no explanation why she seemed to know them already. Kyuubei had not been any more forthcoming about her presence, saying only that she had not contracted with him and that she was a "Special Case."

Mami frowned, thinking. "If it's not you and it's not me, then who? Who else could it possibly be?"

"Maybe it's those two little newbies you're running around with," Kyoko suggested.

"They've been with me the entire time," Mami replied, "And they only contracted this afternoon. It couldn't be them."

"Well _Some_body stole my kill," Kyoko snapped, "And if I catch them doing it again, I'll make 'em pay for snatching Greif Seeds that were supposed to be mine."

"There's something else strange going on," Mami said, "Someone managed to get into my apartment and took some of my things."

"Sounds like an ordinary burglar," Homura suggested.

Mami shook her head. "Somehow I don't think so. If it were a burglar I doubt they would have been nice enough to wash my dishes for me or put them away neatly in their proper places. What's more, the things they took made no sense. It was mostly little personal items; make-up, some of my clothes, pictures of my parents, that sort of stuff. They even took that broken hairclip that my mother was wearing the day that…the day I became a Puella Magi."

"Something weird is happening here."

"It seems that there is some mysterious other player," Mami mused, "who they are, where they are, and what their goal is, however, isn't clear."

"Another Puella Magi," Homura stated, "Potentially two."

Mami turned to her. "We can't be certain of that, can we?"

Homura's face remained completely impassive. "I can."

"A fair assumption based on the details available to you," said a fourth voice. The three Puella magi spun to see a white, cat-like creature perched atop a trash can.

"Kyuubei!" Kyoko called to the creature, "you mean there actually is someone else here?"

"Kyuubei-san. Besides Sayaka-chan, Madoka-chan and the three of us, are there any other Puella Magi nearby?

"Yes and no." The creature said.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Kyoko snapped.

"There are no other Puella Magi that have made contracts within the city."

Kyoko huffed and turned away from Kyuubei. The damn marshmallow never gave straight answers to any question. "Look, if either of you find the one responsible, tell me. And if I get to another barrier that mysteriously collapses and I find out that you were inside, I've already warned you what will happen."


End file.
